Printed pile fabrics and method



Sept. 23, 1969 w, om-r1 ET AL 3,468,694

PRINTED PILE FABRICS AND METHOD Filed Aug. 15, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Y2 my INVENTORS:

E1 9'.- 3 WERNER. M02112 and Jose PH C. RlDEN HOUR- ATTORNEYS Sept. 23, 1969 w, om-r2 ET AL 3,468,694

PRINTED FILE FABRICS AND METHOD Filed Aug. 15, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS:

WERNER MoasTzand JOSE-PH C. RIBENHOUR BYW 111, $115, @4

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,468,694 PRINTED PILE FABRICS AND METHOD Werner Moritz, Charlotte, and Joseph C. Ridenhour, Kannapolis, N.C., assignors, by direct and mesne assignments, to Cannon Mills Company, Kaunapolis, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed Aug. 15, 1966, Ser. No. 572,399 Int. Cl. B41m 1/12; C03c 25/02; B44d 1 52 U.S. Cl. 117--37 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method of applying a pattern, as by printing, to pile fabrics such as towels to produce effects similar to those obtainable through pattern weaving. The method involves the application of an emulsion to the tips of certain pile yarns to treat and change the dyestuff receptivity characteristics thereof, and the subsequent application of a dyestuff-containing, opposite phase emulsion to the treated pile yarns to color the lower extremities thereof.

This invention relates to printed pile fabrics, and more particularly, to the obtaining of novel printed effects on pile fabrics such as terry fabrics.

In the art, patterns can generally be formed on pile fabrics by weaving such patterns or by printing them onto plain-woven fabric. Pattern weaving naturally involves higher costs than plain weaving followed by printing, since it necessitates more intricate and expensive looms which require more preparation time and operators of higher skill. Thus, pattern printing of pile fabrics has become quite popular, particularly in the case of terry fabrics destined for use as towels or the like.

One of the major disadvantages in patterning these pile fabrics by printing is that the printed fabrics tend to have a painted appearance, whereas much softer, luxurious effects are obtainable by pattern weaving through control of differently colored yarns during the weaving operation. Thus, in pattern weaving, individual loops of a contrasting color or shade can be used to break up or tone down the color in a particular pattern area, while in printing, it is virtually impossible, and certainly impractical, to print and/or print around individual pile yarns or small groups of pile yarns to attempt to break up or soften the painted appearance.

In accordance with the present invention, we have found that this painted appearance in printed pile fabrics, such as terry fabrics, can be substantially reduced and the general appearance of the fabric substantially enhanced by initially treating the tips or outer extremities of some or all of the pile yarns within given pattern areas to change the dyestuff receptivity characteristics of such tips and thereafter printing such areas with a dyestufi with the result that such treated pile yarn tips present a contrast to their lower extremities and to any untreated yarns within such area. Surprisingly, these pile yarns with their treated tips and contrasting printed lower extremities, when selectively distributed within a printed area, give the fabric the appearance of a woven pattern design. Moreover, such treatment of a large number or all of the pile yarns within a particular area of the fabric enables us to achieve design effects heretofore unattainable.

Basically, we prefer to accomplish this treatment of the tips of such yarns by first applying only to such tips a suitable emulsion of print paste consistency by the screen "ice printing technique and thereafter screen printing the desired design onto the pile surface using an oppositephase emulsion print paste with the result that the previously treated yarn tips do not accept the print paste in. the same manner as it is accepted by the lower extremities of the treated yarns and by the untreated yarns within the pattern area.

A more complete understanding of this invention will be obtainable from the following more detailed description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic isometric view of a terry towel with a design printed thereon in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of one printed design area of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a portion of the printed terry fabric taken along line 3-3 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary schematic isometric view of an automatic screen printing machine showing a manner by which the towel of FIGURE 1 may be treated and printed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric View of one design area of one of the printing screens shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary isometric view of one design area of the other printing screen shown in FIGURE 4.

Although the illustrations in the drawings refer specifically to terry towel fabric and to screen printing, it is to be understood that other types of loop or cut pile fabrics such as loop terry or sheared terry fabrics, and other methods of treatment and printing could be employed within the concept of the present invention.

A conventional plain woven terry towel broadly indicated at 10 and comprising a base B, and pile yarns Y extending from at least one side thereof, is shown for simplicity with five identical design areas each broadly indicated at 11, and applied to the towel in accordance with the present invention.

In applying such design to the towel 10, tips 12 of certain pile yarns 13 located with sub-design areas broadly indicated at 14 (FIGURES 2 and 3) are first treated to change the dyeing characteristics thereof. Preferably, and as shown, this is accomplished by applying a treatment substance, such as an emulsion of print paste consistency, to the tips 12 through a printing screen broadly indicated at 20 and having five screen design areas 21 therein (FIG- URES 4 and 5) corresponding to the general shape of the sub-design areas 14.

As shown, the screen design areas 21 consist of spaced foraminous areas whereby the tips of only some of the pile yarns within the sub-design areas 14 will be contacted by the treatment substance.

The pattern of foramina used for the design areas of the screen 20 can, of course, be varied, depending upon the ultimate effect desired. For example, an alternating dotdash pattern as shown in the screen design areas 21 has been found to be particularly useful in producing simulated woven design effects wherein a few light colored or white pile yarns would be used to tone down or mute a darker colored design area.

After treating the tips 12 is accordance with the foregoing procedure, a print paste containing a suitable dyestuff is next applied onto the pile surface to complete the formation of the design areas 11. As shown, this is done by applying such print paste to the pile surface in a conventional manner through a printing screen broadly indicated at 22 having five screen design areas 23 therein corresponding to the design areas 11 on the towel 10. As a result, all of the untreated pile yarns and the lower extremities of the treated pile yarns 13 within the design areas 11 are imparted with the predetermined color of the dyestuff of the print paste. On the other, the tips 12 of the treated yarns 13, by virtue of previously having had their dyestuff receptivity characteristics changed, will not receive the dyestui'f in the same manner and will thus present a color contrast.

Various treatment and printing techniques can be employed to obtain this color contrast between the tips 12 and lower extremities of the treated pile yarns 13 and adjacent untreated pile yarns. For exampie, the tip 12 may be treated in such a manner that their original color characteristic is substantially maintained and unaltered by the subsequent printing operation. Or, a whitener or optical bleach (if white or whiter tips are desired) or a dyestufi (if a particular color is desired) may be deposited onto the tips along with the treatment substance, the object of the treatment in all cases being to change the dyestuff receptivity characteristics of such tips so that subsequent printing will produce the desired contrast.

Referring now more specifically to the treatment substance, it will now occur to those skilled in the art that the dyestuff receptivity characteristics of the tips 12 can be changed in various ways. However, we prefer to use an opposite phase emulsion techniquethat is, to treat the tips with a water phase emulsion and thereafter print with dyestulf in an oil phase emulsion, or vice versa.

Some specific non-limiting formulations suitable for practicing the present invention are as follows:

(A) Water phase treating emulsion Percent Titanium dioxide (aqueous dispersion) 0.3-0.7 Methyl cellulose 10.0-12.0 Resimene 875 (Monsanto) thermosetting amino resin 8.0-13.0 Duponol WAQ (DuPont) anionic emulsifier 7.0-12.0 Dimethylbenzene 2.0 Aliphatic naphtha 10.0-20.0 Mineral spirits in water emulsion 62.7-40.3

(B) Water phase treating emulsion Percent Leucophor (Sandoz) fiorescent whitener (optical bleach) 1.0-1.5 Carbapol 934 (Goodrich Chemical) polyacrylic salt (emulsifying binder) 9.0-11.0 Epi-Tex (Jones-Dabney) epoxy resin 10.0-12.0 Duponol WAQ (DuPont) anionic emulsifier 7.0l2.0 Dimethylbenzene 4.0 Aromatic naphtha 10.0-20.0 Jersey Sof (Jersey State Chemical Company) cationic softener 0.3-0.7 Mineral spirits in water emulsion 58.7-38.8

(C) Water phase treating emulsion Percent Titanium dioxide (aqueous dispersion) 2.0-3.0 Leucophor (Sandoz) florescent whitener (optical bleach) 1.0-1.5 Methyl cellulose 1.0-3.0 Melamine formaldehyde resin 3.0-5.0 Rhoplex H- (Rohm & Haas) acrylic polymer 3.0-8.0 Tergitol NPX (Union Carbide) non-ionic surfactant 0.5-1.0 Jersey Sof (Jersey State Chemical Company) cationic softener 0.3-0.7 Mineral spirits in water emulsion 89.2-77.8

Water in mineral spirits emulsion 89.5-87.0

(F) Water phase print paste (blue) Percent Copper phthalo cyanine (blue pigment dyestuff) 12.0-15.0 Tamol N (Rohm & Haas) anionic surfactant 3.0-6.0 Resimene 875 (Monsanto) thermosetting amino resin 8.0-12.0 Hy-Car 1561 (Goodrich Chemical) acrylonitrite polymer 8.0-l5.0 Methyl cellulose 1.0-2.0 Ammonium hydroxide 1.0-2.0 Mineral spirits in water emulsion 67.0-48.0

(G) Oil phase print paste (blue) Percent Copper phthalo cyanine (blue pigment dyestutf) 12.0-15.0 Resimene 875 (Monsanto) thermosetting amino resin 8.0-12.0 Hy-Car 1561 (Goodrich Chemical) acrylonitrite polymer 5.0-10.0 Ethyl cellulose 3.0-5.0 Beckosol P-27 (Reichold Chemical) alkyd resin 3.0-5.0 Water in mineral spirits emulsion 69.0-53.0

The foregoing formulation is then added to a clear cut oil phase emulsion of the following general formulation in an amount suflicient to obtain the color shade desired:

Percent Beckosol P-27 (Reichold Chemical) alkyd resin 3.0-5.0 Hy-Car 1571 (Goodrich Chemical) latex emul- It will be noted that in the various formulations set forth in the examples, Water in mineral spirits and mineral spirits in water emulsions are employed to build the particular emulsion phase desired. As is well known, the relative amounts of Water and mineral spirits in a particular emulsion phase will determine the consistency of the emulsion. Thus, the consistencies of the formulations in all of the examples can be varied accordingly, depending upon the method of printing employed, the depth of penetration and the coverage desired, etc.

Further, although only one dyestutf (copper phthalo cyanine) is used in the foregoing Examples F and G, it is to be understood that any suitable dyestutf or combination of dyestuffs could be substituted, depending upon the color desired, as for example, Pigment Red 57 (CI. 15850) or Pigment Orange 5 (Cl. 12075). Additionally,

the specific treating emulsions A-D are all designed to impart a White color characteristic to the tips 12 of the yarns 13. However, other color characteristics could be imparted thereto by omitting the titanium dioxide or optical bleach from the formulations altogether (to thus impart or substantially preserve the original color characteristic to the yarn) or a suitable dyestutf could be added to or substituted into the formulation to impart some other color characteristic to the tips 12.

In applying the above formulations in accordance with the present invention, any of the water phase treating emulsions of Examples A-C can be first applied to the tips 12 of the yarns 13 through the screen and then followed with printing through screen 22 with the oil phase print paste of Example G. Or, one of the oil phase treating emulsions of Examples D or E could first be so applied and followed with printing with the water phase print paste of Example F. In either event, the subsequent printing with a dyestufi emulsion of those yarns whose tips have been previously treated with an opposite phase emulsion, results in the dyestnff emulsion substantially bypassing the treated yarn tips and attaching to the untreated lower portions of the yarn.

Since the foregoing examples involve the use of resin bonded pigments, the thus printed towel 10 would thereafter, in accordance with well known procedures, be subjected to a temperature within the range of about 290 to 325 F. for a period of 3 to 12 minutes to cure the bonding resins and thus fix the colors on the yarns. Naturally, any other type of dyestuif would be fixed in accordance with the well known procedures for that particular dyestufi. Additionally, softeners or other particular types of finishes may be added as required to the treatment and/or dyestuff formulations in order to impart a particular hand to the fabric.

Although the particular illustrations set forth herein have been primarily directed to simulating woven pattern effects in terry fabrics by treating a relatively small portion of yarns within a particular design area, it is to be understood that all or any portion of the pile yarns in a particular pile fabric could be treated on the tips thereof prior to printing to produce a variety of visual as well as physical effects. In this latter respect, for example, we have surprisingly found that treatment of the tips of all or a large number of the yarns within a given area of the pile fabric produces a softness of hand heretofore unobtainable in printed pile fabrics, and particularly terry fabrics printed with resin-bonded pigments.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only, and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise, except as defined in the appended claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. A method of applying a pattern to a pile fabric having a base and pile yarns extending from at least one side of said base and forming a pile surface thereon, said yarns having predetermined dyestuff receptivity characteristics, said method comprising the steps of applying a first emulsion only to the outer extremities of pile yarns within predetermined areas of the pile surface to treat and change the predetermined dyestuff receptivity characteristics of such outer extremities, and thereafter printing said predetermined areas of the pile surface including the treated pile yarns with a dyestulf containing, opposite phase emulsion to impart a color to the lower extremities of the treated pile yarns contrasting with the color of the outer extremities thereof.

2. A method according to claim 1 in which the outer extremities of only a portion of the pile yarns within said predetermined areas are treated and in which the untreated pile yarns within said predetermined areas are imparted with the same color at and below their outer extremities.

3. A method according to claim 1 in which said first emulsion is applied through a patterned screen.

4. A method according to claim 1 in which said dyestuff-containiug, opposite phase emulsion is applied through a patterned screen.

5. A method according to claim 1 in which both of said emulsions are applied through patterned screens.

6. A method according to claim 1 in which both of said emulsions contain bonding resins and which includes the step of curing such resins by subjecting the printed pile fabric to heat.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,637,621 5/1953 Auer 862 FOREIGN PATENTS 490,532 8/1938 Great Britain.

RALPH S. KENDALL, Primary Examiner M. F. ESPOSITO, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R.

8l5, 62, ll738 

